As subscribers demand more enhanced services of the telephone company related to their personal mobility, this places demands on the telephone system which reduces its efficiency. For example, if a subscriber is absent from his usual location adjacent a telephone line (i.e. telephone set), and forgets to inform the operator or the telephone system of his absence, incoming calls to the telephone line will cause the telephone to ring for an extended period of time, annoying other persons who may be within ear shot of the ringing, and wasting valuable telephone system resources, such as the ringing generator, the peripheral control system, etc.
Ringing to a hunt group has the objective of transferring an incoming call to a location in which a person who might answer the telephone is present. If no person is absent, however, various hunt groups can be rung for an extended period of time before any person, answers a ringing telephone. This can also waste precious time of the caller, and the wasted time could be dangerous if the call is an emergency call, for example.